Blog: Going green across the supply chain to prepare for the future

All businesses have a responsibility to protect the environment and Hermes has been introducing initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, writes Hermes’ Gordon Finlay.

Earlier this week I came across a report featuring recent data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that showed the amount of carbon being produced in the UK is slowly increasing year on year.

While the level of carbon being produced today is less than the 2007 peak, there is still an ongoing environmental issue that needs to be addressed and I believe the supply chain industry should be playing a key role in reducing greenhouse gasses and preserving the environment.

At Hermes, we feel it is important that we lead from the front when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint. When we launched our partnership with Gnewt Cargo, a fully electric delivery fleet based in London, we were able to start tackling our impact on the road.

By utilising a 44-strong fleet of 100% electric, zero-emission vehicles across central London, we achieved a carbon and nitrogen emission saving of 100% for last-mile delivery in 2015 – saving approximately 146 tonnes of carbon.

“By utilising a 44-strong fleet of 100% electric, zero-emission vehicles across central London, we achieved a carbon and nitrogen emission saving of 100% for last-mile delivery in 2015”

We also started to monitor our transport equipment to further pinpoint where we could make emission savings.

On the ground, we introduced LED lighting at our warehouses and solar panels at our Avonmouth Depot. These initiatives have resulted in reducing our levels of CO2 by 32% since 2008.

Target for 2020

As proud as we are with these results, we feel we are able to do better and therefore have set ourselves the target of reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2020.

Our most recent projects have involved changing engine mapping on commercial fleets to increase MPG by 3%, promoting hybrid vehicles on the company car list, and undertaking investigations on voltage optimisation technology to reduce electrical consumption across sites.

Looking forward, we are continuing to find ways in which to reduce our carbon emissions even further. These have included identifying opportunities to adopt new vehicle technologies and integrating a wider proportion of hybrid vehicles to the commercial fleet.

As well as this we are looking for alternative fuels and reviewing the potential for longer commercial trailers to reduce the number of journeys made.

At Hermes, we feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to reduce our CO2 emissions. Our team is committed to fulfilling our 2020 target and our recent figures show that this is on track. We hope that our dedication in this area will lead the way for other logistics companies to follow suit.

Gordon Finlay is head of UK hubs and trunking at Hermes

Hermes Supply Chain BlogHermes’ vision is to be the carrier of choice for every end customer in the UK. The company currently delivers parcels on behalf of 80% of the country’s top retailers and etailers.